Game Master - First Arc - Roots
by LackOfUpdates
Summary: Broken Dimensional Barriers, People of Other Worlds, and Madness. Its the Night of the Great Collapse, where common sense is a detriment to your survival. Welcome to Hellsalem's Lot.


Chapter 1

If any one is willing to beta I would appreciate that.

Disclaimer: Don't own Marvel. Or any anime/manga.

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Wakes up in the middle of city upside down and everything going to shet,

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MC opened his bleary eyes to a room of a few people. Two middle aged, one a slight bit younger and the last that looked like a kid in various positions around the room. He sat up trying to make sense of it all, blinking to adjust to the low-light.

The pale moonlight illuminating the gloomy darkness, helped his eyes adjust faster. He then noticed there were two more people near the darker side of the room near the entrance. They had military fatigues, hard faces and graying hairs. Both of them had guns.

He used the counter beside him to stand up and survey his surroundings, the people started to stir. A weight on his hand revealed to be a strange futuristic looking device that didn't look anything like a watch.

A few minutes after a pop-up showed up.

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Main Mission: Survive

In Accordance Difficulty: C 11

World: ?

Time Limit: ?

Side Missions:

? ? ? ….

Points: Pending

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Everyone exchanged confused looks and the people holding guns only served to mutate the confusion to uncertainty.

In a commanding voice one of them spoke, "Alright, newbies we're going to say this once, if you don't want to die, then pay attention."

One of the two of the businessmen opened their mouths, probably to rebel or shout obscenities, until the man in army fatigues tapped his gun. They promptly closed it.

"You've all been brought here by some unknown force or person. You will all be forced to do things against your will at times, but the most important of all of this is to," His expression if possible, got fiercer, "Finish the Mission. It doesn't matter where you are or what's happening to you, finish it and you'll live long enough to have the luxury to ask questions. And get answers."

The few people in this room took a moment to digest this, MC could tell some people were barely holding themselves from lashing out. These guys might as well have been speaking another language.

Questions? Survive? None what they were saying was making any remote sense, hadn't they kidnapped us? The only thing that stopped us from saying or doing anything was the aura of danger they produced. We were all on a razor's edge, one false move…

The moon peaked behind the clouds now lighting up the darker corners of the room and their faces. We noted their grim features, they almost looked dead.

_'What happened for them, to make an expression like that?'_

"If you guys survive until the end you'll be taken to a new world, occasionally in some you can find a shop to exchange your points for other currency, upgrade stats, skills, genetic mutations or items, we both have an upgrade and this gun you see here. The last setting, we were in was the Movie Jaws, and there were twenty of us at the start. "

If they shone any brighter MC might've gone blind from the two rays of joy, though given what they said it was sort of-

**Side Mission: Tutorial for New Players – Now Locked**

What?

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Main Mission: Survive, Kill or ? the Escaped Experiment

Difficulty: Low C 11

World: ?

Time Limit: ?

Side Missions:

Tutorial for New Players – Now Locked ? ? ? ….

Points: Pending

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So they hadn't been kidnapped, or at least by the people in front of them. Was this like an RPG? A sick twisted RPG. By how this was being set up, we were green. No weapons or anything. MC wouldn't have taken them at their word, but the floating translucent screen and the strange device attached to his arm did helped raise their credibility to 5%.

He had more questions than answers.

The teenager smiled, "What kind of powers can we get?" having stepped near them.

The two were either shocked or just completely done with how cheery she was, while on one it sounded like she believed them, on the other hand…

"You finish the mission, or you do something stupid." That last bit said with a hint of anger.

"Aye, aye," to which the two snorted in disgust and left.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relaxation.

Now that MC wasn't worried about the two Veterans?, he could see the other two in the room. One wore a lab coat over her waiter uniform and the other looked to be a world weary businessman. The teenager was just a tad bit too happy, he half wondered if she had hit the happy juice.

"So, introductions, My name is… well you can call me Jack Freelancer."

The lab coat said, "Hera." Greek? Her facial features sort of did look it.

"Riker Jackson," said the strange Hispanic Asian fellow, he looked Asian, but he felt Hispanic. It was strange.

"Rikka Lyson!" said the cheerful one.

Spot the odd one out.

He then looked outside and found madness taking place. He almost couldn't believe his eyes. Buildings were floating off the ground, ripped in half and were being stacked on top of other broken buildings. Like some demented Jenga Puzzle.

"What is going on?" Hera asked with a pale face. She was the most shocked out the four of them. Jack himself didn't understand what was going on, but he didn't feel her surprise. Attributing it to the Déjà vu he felt, almost like he had seen something like this before.

"Its so cool!" Rikka had stars in her eyes. Jack didn't know her for very long, but already he was worried about her state of mind, "The buildings are flying and getting stacked like lego!"

Riker was having a smoke as he took this all in calmly, though the smoke might be what was helping him. He ignored Hera.

Jack answered, "I don't know." The gloom of the clouds above and the strange silent purple lightning helped illuminate even stranger scenes.

Hera sighed, rubbing her temple and sat on a counter before she turned to him, "Can I have a light?" to which he handed her his lighter.

Looking back outside the building we were in had been connected to a longer building and seemed to be a lot more important that thought previously. Looked almost like a cross between a famous museum and a hospital.

Jack had thought they were on ground level but then noticed that many of the buildings were disappearing below the hill rise. Walking forward, he noticed it was actually the edge. The entire complex they were in was on a floating piece of land. Parts of the front were destroyed, so whatever sign that stated what this place was, had been ripped away.

Riker then started for the door.

Rikka asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go find out where we are first then try to get in contact with my friend," he held up his phone, "For _some reason_ the network's down." He quipped light-heartedly.

We followed him with nothing better to do, even if he seemed a bit too lax for the end of the world. While Jack hated smoking, he understood the two were stressed and this obviously wasn't the time. Rikka came into the smoke trail and sneezed…like a kitten. What was this child.

Shaking my head there were some medical masks on the side of the room near a sink and hand sanitizer, and handed one to her while grabbing some more and putting them in my pocket.

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There were no signs of the Veterans, whatever they were, and did they had long since passed this area. The hallways were dark, and damp, mush of it empty of life, with the exception of one of the rooms. We entered the lit room, and found much of the electricity working fine, that was until Rikka went to turn off the lights and they wouldn't turn off. Wonderful, the room was weird too. She went onto mumble something about a secret organization was at fault, and he ignored her making his over to the reports. Jack was distracted by the reports and many science papers lettering the work area, it all looked like the mess of a college student who didn't have a schedule.

"This looks like-" Hera asked the smoke crushed to avoid setting the papers on fire.

"-Illegal experimentation," the two of us finished for her, then exchanged glances. Right that wasn't odd.

There was much he couldn't remember but somehow, he could understand these papers. It wasn't a surprise Riker could…or could it. When he looked up at Riker and noticed the strange scar on the side of his face the strange flashes of understanding he had gotten reading the papers increased. _No way. _

Riker had been talking, "-Lizards." That was the other thing, he hadn't been paying attention because he understood what was typed on the sheets before him. _But it couldn't be._

Jack looked to _'Riker' _as Hera responded to Steven , "That's bullshit."

"Its amazing!" If anything, getting giddier.

_Could it…?_

"This is not a-" Riker put a hand on her shoulder, to which she took a breathe and spoke with a lower tone, "Rikka, this isn't a game, we need figure out what's happening."

"…I know this is important, I know that we could possibly be in danger, but I've always dreamed about stuff like this being real, and now its in front of me…" Rikka said a lot more subdued.

Hera naturally wasn't the type of person to leave her alone comforted her, "I know, I'm just worried." Rikka sniffled, "Telling you the truth, I think its cool too, just its also scary and we need to deal-" Riker walked a distance away to give them some privacy, and Jack followed.

Might as well get this over with if what they were dealing with was real, "So, I guess its our turn for the heart to heart, who are you really?"

Riker took a second to puff his smoke looking to destruction, "What do you mean, kid?"

"Ok, so we're doing this then huh." He didn't say anything, "Alright then."

He exhaled, "Kid, say it clearly-"

Jack didn't know how he knew this, but it kept him from thinking his conclusion about _Riker _wasn't too ridiculous, "Your gait is too polished for someone of your status. If you really were a businessman, you wouldn't be walking like an assassin."

"Kid, what." His face surprised almost like he was a normal person, but there was something off about it.

"I don't know how I hadn't seen it before," granted Jack's memories hadn't come back so had strange time discphering the feeling he had been getting from _'Riker,'_ "Especially with how unique the battle style is. Even then it has the signature assassin's gait, I" Jack paused narrowing his eyes in frustration, he had to trust these memories it was all he had, "Am familiar with it, otherwise without prior knowledge your style of fighting is very subtle."

He looked at me, "While it's a sign of a healthy kid when they have an overactive imagination, we need focus on the situation at hand." Then walked a distance away towards the sheets.

"The only reason I even bothered to mention this, is that I know you're a good person, even with the smell of all that blood…most of it is yours." He continued to walk, "…Steven A. Starphrase." Had to hand it to him, he didn't even falter, "I don't remember much especially with how I can't remember arriving here, but for some reason I remember a blood user who freezes their blood to best vampires. A scar on the side of his face, and had been seen during the Great Collpase." Not even a single twitch, "He was part of an organization called…Libra."

"Was that supposed to get me to confess?"

"No, just trying to let you know, that I know about you, and to confirm it really is."

"You doubt what you said."

"By point one percent, I haven't seen you do use your powers yet."

Sleepy eyes focused on Jack, "And what would you do if I was, exactly what would it accomplish?"

"To help. I think I had an idea where Klaus is and your supposed to be with him at this point in time," gesturing to the _events_ behind him, "If you're not then he's in trouble."

"Klaus?" His face was surprised, having not expected that.

Jack smiled, then frowned "And that we might have a serious situation on our hands with the 'escaped lizard' situation."

"…Who is this Klaus?" Even with how dismissive Steven was, Jack noted him falter a little in his guise and understood a part of him was still listening.

"Red Hair, Uses Crosses as Blood Style, Tall, about late 20s, has glasses, massive underbite, and is incredibly polite."

The air around him changed, "Uh huh. And this 'lizard situation'"

Jack explained his point of view, and exactly who the lizard was and what he could do.

"That would be a real problem on our hands." Steven scratched his head, then sighed, "But it does sound avoidable as long as we don't leave this room."

As if on cue a roar sounded in the distance, followed by an explosion, "Assuming of course the Military guys don't just bring don't the building and we crash below." Jack rushed to the building's window to see the window on the floor below them explode in a shower of sparks and glass. Smoke fuming from the hole.

"First things first, let's figure out a way of this floating rock."

"Counting on you."

Frowning as a restaurant with broken furniture nearly smashed the windows, swerving upwards at the last second, "…And what about you, who are you kid, the document there isn't something most people can read much less understand?" Not mentioning his accusations as if they weren't true.

"No idea."

"Huh?"

"I think I might have memory loss."

He blinked, then turned to me, "Memory loss. You. Have memory loss?"

"If you ask again, I might ask if you have hearing loss."

He raised an eyebrow smiling lightly like parent letting a kid think he can outwit him, "Really now."

"I'm dead serious, but I do remember a lot of random things, such as you."

"I've never seen you in my life."

"I know."

He took a moment to take this in. Grand Central Station attached itself to the Empire State Building and floated between sections of Central Park. Parts of the city were carved away like someone took a shovel to them. He closed his eyes, "Ah, fine. The city's going to hell anyways. I doubt we'll cross path later." He turned to me with a serious expression, "Don't ever say my name in public, or act friendly with me after, we clear?"

"I don't make promises, but I'll try."

"…Good enough. Everything you said was right."

Jack stood there for a second, "That was anticlimactic."

"If you were expecting drama now, then you must not have dealt with many professionals."

Jack told him what he knew of the Lizard. Much of which wasn't mentioned in the reports.

"Now I should be able to deal with the Lizard easily, if the specifications are as you've said." His voice became a bit more serious, "If it were anyone else, you might not be standing you recognize this right?"

"Yeah, but you're a good person, and you've helped a lot of people." He seemed to not know what to say to that.

"Kid, just take my advice to heart, don't pull a crazy stunt like this again."

"Got it."

"…I hope you have, its not a nice world out there."

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We lapsed into silence, broken by the clock's rhythmic continence. It read 4:57, nearly an hour till daylight…


End file.
